Flight Simulator X review

[john70t]

I finally discovered something that helps a bit in flying the French Gazelle SA-342.
"M"="Marche" or "On". (not "Manual")
"A"="Arret" or "Off". (not "Automatic")
The aircraft seems to fly better with things working. ;/

Still haven't figured out how to turn off the "PA" light.
(I suspect that means "Pilote Automatique")

[flipper35]

That seems so, intuitive!

[john70t]

Something to consider, you know, just in case you need to go somewhere and it's the only ride around.

Your French military attache stumbles into the hotel room and falls to floor.
A gunshot wound in his back.
The keys slip from his bloody hands. "Go my friends. Go!" he whispers with his last breath.
You hear the sounds of sporadic gunfire outside in the streets outside with the distant rumble of tanks in the distance as you head for the roof.

[john70t]

Took a flight in a B-17 around Detroit.
The Yankee Lady still flies out of Willow Run a bit further to the West.

All the pretty gauges are on the right and I may be sitting in the wrong seat.
This plane is much like driving a cruise ship in a slalom course. You have to plan ahead a mile.

(A big thank you to the essential EZDOK camera system. It would be impossible to see and reach all the switches otherwise.)


On final approach to KDTW 3R 10,001ft the windows suddenly fogged up.


No time for complicated menus. Fixed by opening a side one.


For some reason the engines would sputter without breaking the safety wire and using emergency rich mixture throughout the entire flight.
(Those are the tall red ones in the center)
I did have the props rimmed for correct rpm, fuel pumps on, filters are supposed to be on below 15,000.
Still doing something incorrect...

I had called ground control for clearance, remembered wheels and flaps, and even landed on the correct runway!


Unlocked the tail wheel after slowing down but the joystick is set up to control all four engines.
You need the outer engines to be able to turn. It is a beast.

[john70t]

Flying around downtown Detroit in a Bell-47.
Learning the layout.




Chasing the People Mover train through downtown.
(EZDOK made it a bit tricky to fly with their ground effects and crosswind gust modeling between the buildings).


It's difficult to see here, but there are labels everywhere on this photogrammetry map from Google.

I think this tech will become the next evolution in maps and virtual travel.
Users will be able to virtually fly through a route to see everything beforehand.

[flipper35]

Arstechnica has an article on MS2020. They are selling a 10 disc set in Europe to jump start the install. 90GB just on the discs and then more once it is installed. They said all the cloud stuff streams as you fly and it is thousands of discs worth so no local install on that. It looks nice and i bet it is hard on the CPU/GPU. No VR yet which struck me as weird and not sure on TrackIR support, which would suck. Actually, no support would mean no purchase from me.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/07/microsoft-flight-simulators-physical-release-spans-a-whopping-ten-dvds/

[john70t]

MSFS 2020 is actually developed by a French developer https://www.asobostudio.com/ so hopefully no MS BSOD.
I've watched the videos and they are simply amazing.

I do have inexpensive but sketchy dial-up which I want to keep. That might be an issue.

The language being used is pretty vague at this point in time, but another major issue might be game activation.
-It looks like the game will require an internet activation every single time you want to play. Not just once for registration.
-It also looks like an Xbox Game Pass might be required. $10/mo $120/yr to play a game already 'purchased'.

That might be a deal breaker for myself. Major bummer.

The DVD option is only available for Europe. Not the USA.
10 disks is a problem? pshha! Here are my FSX install disks and 7TB of photoscenery. Not including a couple hard drives.
Two DVD drives toasted and counting:

[masraum]

Originally Posted by john70t

MSFS 2020 is actually developed by a French developer https://www.asobostudio.com/ so hopefully no MS BSOD.
I've watched the videos and they are simply amazing.

I do have inexpensive but sketchy dial-up which I want to keep. That might be an issue.

The language being used is pretty vague at this point in time, but another major issue might be game activation.
-It looks like the game will require an internet activation every single time you want to play. Not just once for registration.
-It also looks like an Xbox Game Pass might be required. $10/mo $120/yr to play a game already 'purchased'.

That might be a deal breaker for myself. Major bummer.

The DVD option is only available for Europe. Not the USA.
10 disks is a problem? pshha! Here are my FSX install disks and 7TB of photoscenery. Not including a couple hard drives.
Two DVD drives toasted and counting:

Sounds like it's time to invest in a BluRay burner.

[flipper35]

Or copy them all to a flash drive.

FS2020 gets its scenery from the could as you fly so it is constantly downloading files as you go to new places. Not sure if it caches the area you have already flown.

X-Plane has some Ortho scenery that is incredibly storage intensive as well. I like the scenery as long as it doesn't impact the fidelity of the flight model.

[john70t]

Thank goodness the mega hard drives are so cheap. Load up on RAM.
The 2T SSDs are available but it will a while before they are big+cheap enough for flight sims.

64-bit X-Plane looks so much better than 32-bit FSX. I really dove into the shallow end on that one.

X-Plane 11 | NEW XPRealistic Pro Plugin- Get Insane Realism!

[flipper35]

MSFS 2020 is actually looking pretty good. I might regret X-Plane 11 if it is as good as the reviews say. VR/TrackIR from the get go as well.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/07/ms-flight-simulator-our-yoke-on-look-at-new-features-gorgeous-flights/

[flipper35]

Well, a few hours into MS 2020 and the flight fidelity is good and the scenery is really good. The interaction with the panel is better than X-Plane but the thing that I don't care for is you can't practice ditching in the water If you are not a float plane the sim stops as soon as any part of your plane touches the water. Same if you over stress the aircraft. I also have not found a "reliability" tab to have things go wonky at some random time, like loss of oil or alternator gone bad.

It is pretty good overall, just missing some things important to me.

[Eric Hahl]

Next you'll be needing one of these....
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/346206518/yaw2-motion-simulator-and-smart-chair

[flipper35]

I could rent a lot for those prices! That, and no movement is good for IFR stuff as you have only the instruments to tell you what is going on. Unless you are at Airventure in the spinning cockpit of doom to test your IFR chops.

[carreradpt]

So what's new in the flying Sim world since this last post more than 2 yrs ago? VR ?

[john70t]

MS2020 is still full of stupid bugs never fixed but is amazing.
Lots of online griping about getting double-charged, not getting their money back when cancelling, MS servers being extremely slow and d/l taking many days, downloads looping, not being able to 'log in' in full screen mode, massively oversized trees, ATC not working, manual cache "saved scenery" not working, mandatory updates, huge files and space needed, slow frame rates, random CTD for various reasons including bad Nvidia drivers, etc. Some of that being basic user error.
It is beautiful when it works though.

MS2024 is slated to be released soon but it supposed to be mostly "on-line". Considering the cost of huge data that will require, and the previous server problems, I'm not sure how that will turn out.

I know little about X-Plane 12.

[fanaudical]

I'm an X-Plane 11 user and really like it. The only thing that has stopped me from moving to X-Plane 12 is that my current flight-sim computer won't fully support it.

You can download a fully-working demo from X-Plane and try out X-Plane 12. The demo is limited to one geographic area and will only fly for ~15 minutes but otherwise is fully functional. It's a great way to test on your hardware before committing.

I have X-Plane 11 customized with several add-on aircraft. Lately I've taken to flying helicopters more than anything and built myself some custom controls for that (based on a Leo Bodnar board). Check out X-Plane.org for the on-line community. It's not as extensive as MSFS2020 but certainly gets the job done...

[john70t]

Did you have trouble getting Ortho photoscenery to work?
I've seen programs which automatically D/L, but then problems with google maps and other sources.

I look outside the cockpit more than inside. Low and slow here. MS is better for that.

[fanaudical]

I have not loaded a lot of orthoscenery in X-Plane 11 (still running with old hardware). I have added several freeware scenery packs which enhance the scenery that is already there. That's been good enough for me. I agree that the MSFS demos I have seen have some scenery rendering that is probably better than X-Plane.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by john70t

MS2020 is still full of stupid bugs never fixed but is amazing.
Lots of online griping about getting double-charged, not getting their money back when cancelling, MS servers being extremely slow and d/l taking many days, downloads looping, not being able to 'log in' in full screen mode, massively oversized trees, ATC not working, manual cache "saved scenery" not working, mandatory updates, huge files and space needed, slow frame rates, random CTD for various reasons including bad Nvidia drivers, etc. Some of that being basic user error.
It is beautiful when it works though.

MS2024 is slated to be released soon but it supposed to be mostly "on-line". Considering the cost of huge data that will require, and the previous server problems, I'm not sure how that will turn out.

I know little about X-Plane 12.

I haven't had any issues with MS2020 other than huge updates. It is pretty good in VR. I like X-Plane 11 for flying better still, but MS you can see stuff like the pyramids and such. Had a competition with my nephew landing on the smallest nodule at Monument Valley. You have to be able to take off again was the only stipulation. I just used enough speed to fall off and get speed while falling.

Just started Flying DCS in earnest with my nephew too. He flies with a group of retired Ait force and Navy guys.